It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head.

Bandleader Eric Robinson and television personality David Nixon helped promote the first instruments, and celebrities such as Princess Margaret were early adopters.

Production of the Mellotron ceased in 1986, but it regained popularity in the 1990s and was used by bands such as Oasis, the Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, and Radiohead.

[4] Pressing a key harder allows the head to come into contact under greater pressure, to the extent that the Mellotron responds to aftertouch.

In this, the male singers from the Ted Taylor Choir were allowed to drop the highest notes back to the previous octave as they were considerably out of their natural range.

Moving the instrument between cold storage rooms and brightly lit stages could cause the tapes to stretch and stick on the capstan.

He met Frank, Norman, and Les Bradley of tape engineering company Bradmatic Ltd, who said they could improve on the original design.

[12] The Bradleys subsequently met bandleader Eric Robinson, who agreed to help finance the recording of the necessary instruments and sounds.

Together with the Bradleys and television celebrity David Nixon (Robinson's son-in-law), they formed a company, Mellotronics, in order to market the instrument.

An updated version, the Mk II, was released the following year which featured the full set of sounds selectable by banks and stations.

[15] Fransen failed to explain to the Bradleys that he was not the owner of the concept, and Chamberlin was unhappy with the fact that someone overseas was copying his idea.

[3][23] The first notable musician to use the Mellotron was variety pianist Geoff Unwin, who was specifically hired by Robinson in 1962 to promote the use of the instrument.

[27] After Mellotronics had targeted them as a potential customer, the BBC became interested in the possibilities of the instrument, hoping it would allow them to increase throughput at the Radiophonic Workshop.

[32] There's one thing I can do /Play my Mellotron for you /Try to blow away your city bluesMike Pinder worked at Streetly Electronics for 18 months in the early 1960s as a tester, and was immediately excited by the possibilities of the instrument.

[34] After trying piano and Hammond organ, he settled on the Mellotron as the instrument of choice for his band, the Moody Blues, purchasing a second-hand model from Fort Dunlop Working Men's Club in Birmingham[35] and using it extensively on every album from Days of Future Passed (1967) to Octave (1978).

[37][38] Author Mark Cunningham describes the part in "Strawberry Fields Forever" as "probably the most famous Mellotron figure of all-time".

[42] The instrument became increasingly popular among rock and pop bands during the psychedelic era, adding what author Thom Holmes terms "an eerie, unearthly sound" to their recordings.

These include "We Love You", where he used the instrument to create a Moroccan-sounding horn section,[44] "She's a Rainbow",[45] "2000 Light Years from Home"[21] and "Jigsaw Puzzle".

He decided to approach the instrument in a different way to a typical orchestra, using block chords, and later stated that he used it in the same manner as a synth pad on later albums.

[52] Barclay James Harvest's Woolly Wolstenholme bought an M300 primarily to use for string sounds,[53] and continued to play an M400 live into the 2000s as part of a reformed band.

[55] The Mellotron was used extensively by German electronic band Tangerine Dream through the 1970s,[56] on albums such as Atem (1973),[56] Phaedra (1974),[57] Rubycon (1975),[58] Stratosfear (1976),[59] and Encore (1977).

[59] In the late 1970s, French duo Space Art used a Mellotron during the recording of their second album, Trip in the Centre Head.

[60] In 1983, the band's Christopher Franke asked Mellotronics if they could produce a digital model, as the group migrated towards using samplers.

One of the few UK post-punk bands to do so was Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, who featured it heavily on their platinum-selling 1981 album Architecture & Morality.

[62] XTC's Dave Gregory recalls seeing bands using Mellotrons when growing up in the 1970s, and thought it would be an interesting addition to the group's sound.

Radiohead asked Streetly Electronics to restore and repair a model for them in 1997,[67] and recorded with it on several tracks for their album OK Computer (1997).

[70] Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson has acquired one of King Crimson's old Mellotrons[71] and, in 2013, gave a demonstration of the instrument in celebration of its 50th anniversary.